Virtualize Success: How IT and remote workers win with VDI on HCI

[Greg_Gibby]

At a Glance

• The Situation: Working from home will continue to be a way of life for many after the pandemic.
• The Challenge: IT must address the complexities of a remote workforce: application performance, data security, and technology management—all while reducing costs.
• The Solution: Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) keeps telecommuters connected but can be tough to deploy and expensive to maintain. VDI on hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) makes it easier.
• The Game Changer: AMD EPYC™ processors help you get the full benefits of VDI on HCI. They accelerate virtualized applications, help protect data in use on virtual machines (VMs), and can reduce costs. 

The Situation: All WFH, All the Time

The coronavirus outbreak is forcing a fundamental shift in the way we work. That being said, the move to remote work has been a long-time coming. This is only the beginning, according to business leaders. No surprise considering it could save them $11,000 per remote worker every year.¹ 

• 80% of the U.S. labor force wanted to work from home (WFH) at least some of the time — in 2019.²
• 82% of company leaders now say they plan to allow more telecommuting — even after the pandemic.³  

The Challenge: Remote Access, Data Protection, and Doing More with Less

This development is driving IT teams to re-examine their plans and timelines for data center modernization. There is a laser focus on supporting WFH workers and ramping up cybersecurity. Along with security and collaboration, Forrester Research says that remote access is one of the three key technologies required to keep at-home employees productive and engaged.⁴

While 90% of IT professionals think remote workers are not secure, 92% also believe that the benefits of remote work outweigh the risks.⁵ And, so they’re in search of the best technologies to solve the problems that large-scale telecommuting can pose:

• Low performance in virtualized applications 
• Security risks of employees using home networks  
• IT management issues when supporting off-site workers

In addition to addressing these challenges, IT is still charged with reducing costs.

The Solution: Desktop Virtualization on HCI

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) can provide employees with secure access to desktops, applications, and data from anywhere and on virtually any device. But traditional VDI is fraught with difficulties. Siloed infrastructure is tough to scale and requires specialized expertise.

That is why VDI on hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is in the spotlight. HCI consolidates storage, networking, and compute into one easy-to-manage system. It can help lower capital and operational expenses while boosting business agility and resilience.

For IT, implementing VDI on HCI offers:

• Fast initial deployment
• Easy VM provisioning
• Simple management

For remote workforces, VDI on HCI enables:

• Easy access from virtually any device
• Sound collaboration and communication
• Up-to-date applications 

Leading VDI solutions include VMware Horizon, Citrix VDI, and Microsoft Virtual Desktop. The top HCI offerings include VMware vSAN, Nutanix HCI, and Microsoft Azure Stack HCI.

The Game Changer: AMD EPYC™ Processors for VDI on HCI

Maximize the benefits of VDI on HCI with 2nd Gen AMD EPYC™, the leading high-performance x86 server processor⁶. When you deploy virtual desktops on HCI solutions powered by AMD EPYC™ you can:  

• Accelerate virtualized applications: Speed up HCI performance with world-record performance in virtualization.⁷ A dual CPU server powered by AMD EPYC™ 7F72 processors is 25% faster in VMmark® 3.1 vSAN™ than a server with two Intel® Xeon® 8268 processors.⁸
• Help protect data with advanced security features: AMD EPYC™ is the only x86 server processor with Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV). This breakthrough technology encrypts and isolates data in use on a VM. Part of AMD Infinity Guard, SEV helps keeps data safe with virtually zero impact on performance.⁹
•  Impact data center costs: In a 2P configuration, the AMD EPYC™ 7742 delivers 2.3x the VMmark® 3.1.1 vSAN™ performance and tile (VM) workload capacity than a 4-host, 2x Intel Xeon Platinum 8268, which can help save money on data center space, power, and software licensing.¹⁰ In fact, AMD EPYC™ processors can help reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) per VM by up to 45% using a single-socket EPYC 7702P processor-powered server compared to a dual-socket Intel Xeon Gold 6242 CPU-based server.¹¹

Visit the links below to learn more about optimizing your VDI/HCI investment with AMD EPYC™ processors.

Dive deeper into AMD EPYC™

AMD EPYC™ for HCI on AMD.com

Secure Encrypted Virtualization on AMD Developer Central

AMD Infinity Guard on AMD.com

Explore leading VDI and HCI solutions powered by AMD EPYC™

Greg Gibby is Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Data Center Products for AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Global Workplace Analytics, “Latest Work-At-Home/Telecommuting/Mobile Work/Remote Work Statistics,” ...

2. Global Workplace Analytics and OWL Labs, “State of Remote Work,” 2019

3. Gartner, “Return to the Workplace: Benchmarking Against Your Peers,” Webinar Poll, 2020

4. Forrester Research, “Essential Technology for Remote and Quarantined Employees During A Pandemic," 2...

5. OpenVPN, “Remote Work Is the Future — But Is Your Organization Ready for It?,” 2020

6. 16-n, 2P 2nd Gen EPYC™ 7702 powered server scores a world record result of 7100 SPECrate®2017_int_base  http://spec.org/cpu2017/results/res2020q1/cpu2017-20191223-20452.pdf. The next highest published score is 3920 SPECrate®2017_int_base  on a 16-n, 2-socket Xeon® 8180 powered server http://spec.org/cpu2017/results/res2018q1/cpu2017-20171222-01950.pdf as of 02/12/20. SPEC® and SPECrate® are trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Learn more at www.spec.org. ROM-517

7. For a complete list of world records see http://amd.com/worldrecords. ROM-169

8. 4-node, 2x EPYC 7F72 processor powered cluster (192 total cores) with a score of 13.27@ 14 tiles on the VMmark® 3.1.1 benchmark using vSAN™ (https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/vmmark/2020-04-14-DellEMC-PowerEdg...) delivers 24.8% more performance with a 16.7% higher tile/VM workload capacity than the VMmark® 3.1 vSAN performance of a 4-node, 2x Intel Xeon Platinum 8268 processor powered cluster (192 total cores) with a score of 10.63@12 tiles (https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/vmmark/2020-06-30-Supermicro-SYS-2...) as of 06/08/20. ROM-732

9. AMD Infinity Guard security features on EPYC™ processors must be enabled by server OEMs and/or Cloud Service Providers to operate. Check with your OEM or provider to confirm support of these features. Learn more about Infinity Guard at https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/infinity-guard. GD-177

10. 4-node, 2x EPYC™ 7742 processor powered cluster with a score of 24.08@ 28 tiles on the VMmark® 3.1.1 benchmark using vSAN (https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/vmmark/2020-04-28-DellEMC-PowerEdg...) delivers 2.27x the performance and 2.33x the tile/VM workload capacity than the VMmark® 3.1.1 vSAN performance of a 4-node, 2x Intel Xeon Platinum 8268 processor powered cluster with a score of 10.63@12 tiles (https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/vmmark/2020-06-30-Supermicro-SYS-2...) as of 06/08/20. ROM-737

11. Comparison results calculated by AMD based on a hypothetical scenario hosting 3,200 virtual machines on 2-socket Intel Xeon 6242 16 cores ea. (32 total cores) based systems compared to 1-socket AMD EPYC™ 7702P 64 total core system, each VM (virtual machine) allocated one core, (1) 1 TB hard drive @ $387, and 8GB of DRAM with a cost of $16.41 per GB using 16GB DDR4 DRAM. All calculations are based on AMD's best estimates of what actual costs and other values will be for both AMD and Intel based platforms. Each AMD 7702P system supports 64 VMs and each Intel 6242 system supports 32 VMs, for a total of 50 AMD powered servers and 100 Intel based servers. These estimates do not include and VM server management costs. System Configurations: Intel Xeon based servers include (2) Intel® Xeon® Gold 6242 @ $2,529 ea, with 256 GB of memory, a dual socket 2U rack mount server, each with power supplies, and NIC @ $2,500, for a total per server price of $12,146.56 ea. and a total hardware acquisition price of $1,214,656. AMD EPYC™ servers include a single socket 2U rack mount chassis, with (1) AMD EPYC™ 7702P at $4,425, with 512 GB of memory, a single socket 2U rack mount server, each with power supplies, and NIC @ $2,200, for a total per server price of $15,414.52 ea. and a total hardware acquisition price of $770,726. Power estimates: AMD 315 watts per server per hour, for a total solution power of 1360.8 kW per month for 50 servers. Intel 415 watts per server per hour, for a total soluton power of 3585.6 kW per month for 100 servers. Three-year total power with a PUE of 2 and a power cost of $0.12 per kWh: AMD - $97,977.60 and Intel - $258,163.20. Data center three-year real estate cost estimates based on $20/mth/sq ft and 27 sq ft per rack are for: Intel is 5 rack cabinets at $97,200 and for AMD of $48,600 (2.5 rack cabinets). Server Administration cost is calculated with an estimate of $110,500 annually per server administrator (includes 30% burden) with a ratio of one server administrator per 30 servers resulting in Intel cost of $1,105,000 (for 100 servers) and for AMD $552,500 (for 50 servers) for total 3 yr server administration costs.  Total estimated 3 Year TCO as a result is $2,675,019 for the Intel-based Systems and $1,469,804 for the AMD EPYC powered systems.  As a result, AMD EPYC based systems are estimated to deliver up to a 45% lower TCO (excluding software costs). Annual cost per VM: (1469804/3200)/3=$279; (2675091/3200)/3=$153.This scenario contains many assumptions and estimates and, while based on AMD internal research and best approximations, should be considered an example for information purposes only, and not used as a basis for decision making over actual testing. ROM-329

AMD, the AMD arrow, EPYC, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Citrix is a trademark of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Nutanix Acropolis is a trademark of Nutanix Inc. VMware Horizon is a registered trademark of VMware in the US or other countries. VMware vSAN is a trademark of VMware in the US or other countries. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the US and/or other countries. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware in the US or other countries.